Panel picks three for Patan VC; PM to take a final call

The three-member committee formed to recommend a new vice-chancellor (VC) for the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) submitted three names to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday.

The committee, led by Health Minister Rajendra Mahato with Secretary at the Education Ministry, Som Lal Subedi, and Chairman of the Nepal Medical Council, Dr Damodar Gajurel, recommended the names of Dr Jay Narayan Shah, a surgeon at Patan Hospital; Dr Shree Krishna Giri, rector of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) and Dr Shreejana Shrestha, a pediatrician at Patan Hospital. The prime minister, who is also chancellor of the PAHS, will select a VC from among the names.

Earlier, a majority of doctors and hospital staff had recommended the names of three doctors—Dr Shah, Dr Shrestha and Dr Bharat Yadav of the PAHS emergency department. “We have witnessed the chaos that came with the appointment of a VC who was not from this institution,” said a PAHS doctor. “Hence, we will only accept a VC from within the hospital.”

After the Cabinet endorsed a bill establishing Patan Hospital as a teaching institute in 2007, Dr Arjun Karki was made its first VC. When his four-year term ended in August last year, he was replaced by Dr Sangita Bhandari, former head of the ENT Department at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan for eight years. However, just five months into her appointment, Dr Bhandari was unanimously removed by the PAHS Senate last week, following months-long protests against her “unilateral decision” to appoint Dr Soumya Bhattacharya of the BPKIHS as Rector of the institute. Dr Bhandari was given her marching orders on January 24 and the three-member committee formed on January 25.

However, according to doctors, from among the candidates, Dr Giri does not have a good image. Dr Giri was appointed Rector at NAMS through the Maoist quota and is likely to pile pressure on PM Baburam Bhattarai to obtain the position of VC, said sources.